How to Arrange Photos in a Wall Family Tree

Tracing a family tree can lead to some fascinating discoveries, such as a 14-year-old grandfather joining a posse to hunt for Jessie James or a grandmother who moved from Texas to Oklahoma in a covered wagon, but these family stories are not complete without pictures to put a face to a name. Arranging photos on a wall to correspond with their place in the family tree can be daunting, but once you decide on how to place them on the wall, your pictures will practically hang themselves.

Measure and Prepare

1

Measure the wall height and width. Determine how far down the wall you want your photos to hang and how much wall space to leave between the top of the arrangement and the ceiling. Also consider how much blank wall space to leave to the left and right side of your arrangement. For example, leave three feet of space from the bottom of the lowest photo to the floor, 12 to 18 inches of space to the left and right of the arrangement and 18 to 24 inches of space at the top. Of course, this depends on the number of photos, size of the wall and size of the frames.

2

Pick the photos you want to use in your family tree. Pick similar size photos if possible. Determine how many family members to include. You can choose just yourself, your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, you and your spouse’s parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, or you can add you and your spouse’s siblings along with your parent’s siblings. Again, the size of the space may determine who you wish to include in your arrangement.

3

Frame the photos in matching picture frames with card stock mats, if applicable, or different size frames to fit photos of various sizes. If you choose the same size frames for each photo, use 8-inch by 10-inch frames if you have a large wall to fill, or use 5-inch by 7-inch frames if you have a large family tree and limited space.

4

Create custom mat templates with tracing paper for those photos that are too small to fit a standard size frame. Remove the glass from the frame. Lay the glass on top of a piece of tracing paper. Trace around the glass.

5

Place your photo beneath the tracing paper. Center the photo within the traced lines. Trace around the edges of the photo to make the mat opening. Make sure your opening is at least 1/4 inch smaller than the actual photo.

6

Lay the tracing paper over a piece of card stock. Use a ruler and a ballpoint pen to trace over the lines on the tracing paper, indenting the lines onto the card stock.

7

Place the card stock on top of a cutting board. Use a project knife to cut the mat opening for the photo. Use sharp scissors to cut along the lines representing the outside edge of the mat.

8

Place the photo facedown on the mat. Center the photo in the mat opening. Use clear tape to secure the photo to the card stock mat. Insert the photo and mat in the frame.

Plan Photo Arrangement

1

Transfer your wall measurements to a piece of graph paper. Make sure to account for the space you wish to leave blank above, below and to each side of the arrangement.

2

Draw a square to represent your own photo in the center of the space on the graph paper. If you are married, place a square next to yours to represent your spouse's photo, or use a photo with the two of you together. Make sure to center both photos in the space if you are using separate photos of you and your spouse, and leave one or two inches between the two photos.

3

Draw a horizontal row of photos beneath you and your spouse to represent each of your children and spouses' photos if applicable. Leave two or three inches between the bottom of your photo and the tops of your children’s photos, and leave three or four inches between each of your children’s pictures.

4

Position your grandchildren’s photos in age order vertically beneath their parent’s pictures if applicable. Leave two or three inches between the tops and bottoms of your grandchildren’s photos.

5

Place your parents on the side of the wall closest to your photo and your spouse’s parents on the opposite side. Line up the parent’s photos horizontally with you and your spouse’s photo. Leave three or four inches between you and your parents, but leave one or two inches between the parent’s photos.

6

Center your two sets of grandparents above your parent’s photo using the same spacing as you used between you and your parent’s photo. Do the same with your spouse’s grandparents. This horizontal row of grandparents’ photos will be above the photos of you, your spouse and both sets of parents.

7

Place a mark that represents six inches to the right and left of the grandparents’ photos. Measure the height of the frame holding the grandparents’ photo. Divide the measurement in half to find the center of the frame. Place a mark that represents the center of the frame on the graph paper.

8

Draw vertical lines down the graph paper at the six-inch marks. Draw horizontal lines from the center-marks across the graph paper.

9

Arrange your great-grandparents’ photos in groupings where these lines intersect. These groupings could have up to eight or more photos each, so try to balance the photos on each side of the arrangement. Any great-great-grandparent photos should be included in these groupings as well. Once you are satisfied with the arrangement on the graph paper, transfer the arrangement to the floor.

10

Apply masking tape to the floor to represent the amount of wall space you intend to use. Cover the marked space on the floor with sheets of wax paper. Overlap each piece of wax paper about 1/2 inch, and use clear tape to tape the pieces of wax paper together. Remove the wax paper from the floor, and set it aside.

11

Refer to your graph paper to position your photos facedown on the floor. Use the tape measure and a ruler to ensure the correct amount of spacing between each photo.

12

Refer to your graph paper to position your photos facedown on the floor. Use the tape measure and a ruler to ensure the correct amount of spacing between each photo.

13

Lay the wax paper over the photos. Use a felt-tip pen to mark each frame hanger position on the paper.

Hang the Photos

1

Hang the wax paper on the wall with tape. Use a level to ensure the frame hanger marks are level. Adjust the wax paper accordingly if necessary.

2

Drive nails into the wall at each mark on the wax paper. Pull the wax paper off the wall.

3

Hang your family tree photos on the wall, following your graph paper layout.

Things You Will Need

Tape measure

Matching frames or different size frames

Tracing paper

Card stock

Ruler

Ballpoint pen

Cutting board

Project knife

Scissors

Clear tape

Graph paper

Masking tape

Wax paper

Felt-tip pen

Level

Nails

Hammer

Assorted frames

Additional family photos

Tip

Surround your family tree photo arrangement with additional photos of your family. Use different frame styles and designs to differentiate these additional photos from the family tree photos. Each photo has a story to tell, so allow those photos to share the family tree space.

Take a picture of your family tree photo arrangement on the wall. This picture makes an excellent reference when painting the wall or when moving.

About the Author

Cecilia Harsch has been writing professionally since 2009. She writes mainly home improvement, health and travel articles for various online publications. She has several years of experience in the home-improvement industry, focusing on gardening, and a background in group exercise instruction. Harsch received her Certified Nurses Assistant license in 2004. She attended Tarrant County College and studied English composition.